There are many known bottles for holding and dispensing products. Some of these bottles are referred to herein as invertible bottles. Invertible bottles are bottles with first and second opposite ends that are designed such that the bottle can stand stably on a support surface through contact with either of the ends with the support surface, and with a closure or cap that is disposed at the first end. The bottle is usually stored with its second, base end in contact with the support surface, but may be inverted (particularly when much of the product contained in the bottle has been used up) so that the first, closure end is instead placed on a support surface. This is in contrast to non-invertible bottles, in which a closure is provided at a top end opposite to a base end on which the bottle stands, and the bottle is unable to stand stably on its top end. Over time and due to gravity, the product in a bottle settles towards its lowermost end. Invertible bottles provide the advantage that, with the bottle inverted, the product in the bottle settles towards the end having the closure, such that the product can be dispensed readily once the closure is opened. This avoids a user necessarily having to rotate the bottle to orientate the opening at the lowest point of the bottle, and then wait for the product to flow towards the opening, as is the case for non-invertible bottles. Such a wait could be for several seconds when the product is particularly viscous.
Some known invertible bottles suffer from the problem that, once a required dose of the product has been dispensed and the opening has subsequently been re-sealed by the closure, often an amount of the product remains on the exterior of the bottle around the closure end. This is particularly the case when the product contained in the bottle is a body wash, shower gel, shampoo or other product that might be dispensed onto a user's hand, since the user's hand cups the dispensed product and causes an amount of the product to be spread onto the surface of the bottle around the closure end. Once the closure end of the bottle is placed back on the resting surface, such as on a counter, a shelf, or the rim of a bath, the product remaining on the exterior of the bottle dries out, giving the bottle an unattractive appearance. Subsequent dispensing operations can lead to the addition of further product on the outside of the closure end, which itself will also dry out over time. The dried product may later become mixed with fresh product from within the bottle during a subsequent dispensing operation, leading to less than satisfactory performance of the product. If the product is a food item, this also can be unhygienic.
The top end and/or closure of a non-invertible bottle may be of practically any shape, since the form of the top end and closure does not usually affect the stability of the bottle when placed on its opposite, base end. However, in the case of an invertible bottle, the shapes of the closure end and the closure itself are dictated by the requirement for the bottle to be sufficiently stable when placed on its closure end. For this reason, many known invertible bottles have completely flat, or planar, closure ends that extend over most or all of the width and depth of the bottle perpendicular to its height, or alternatively have a closure end including an annular rim that extends from the closure end and extends fully around the perimeter of the closure end. Either of these forms can give the bottle an unappealing, sometimes utilitarian, appearance. Moreover, these forms can permit pooling of significant amounts of water or other liquid on the closure end due to surface tension.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved invertible bottle that enables the avoidance, minimization or reduction of collection over time of product or liquid on the exterior of the bottle around its closure end. Furthermore, there is a need for greater freedom of design when it comes to determining the shape of a closure end of an invertible bottle.